Second edition, illustrated with a macabre engraved frontispiece (cf. Quérard II, 516; Cioranescu, XVIII, 13544, for the original 1712 edition).
Contemporary handwritten annotations on the title leaf.
Full brown calf binding, spine with five raised bands richly gilt in compartments with decorative tools, red morocco title label largely missing, gilt fillet framing the covers, sprinkled edges, corners rubbed, contemporary binding.
Headcaps worn down, some rubbing to spine and boards.
Second edition of this highly engaging work of early “libertine” philosophy, in the original sense of the term.
The project of the Réflexions was inspired by a remark from Montaigne: “Si j'estoy faiseur de livres, je feroy un registre commenté des morts diverses. Qui apprendroit les hommes à mourir, leur apprendroit à vivre” (Essais, I, XX).
Yet this first work by the young Boureau-Deslandes, placed on the Index in 1758, is far from being a mere compilation of entertaining anecdotes. While it does recount the deaths of various notable men and women who met their end with distinction, its deeper purpose is to demonstrate the possibility of a philosophy capable of reconciling life and death without recourse to religion.